Abraham Genoels

Abraham Genoels II or Abraham Genouil (nickname: Archimedes) (25 May 1640 – 10 May 1723) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman, engraver and tapestry designer. He is now mainly known for his landscape paintings, drawings and prints. He had an international career that saw him work in Paris, Rome and Antwerp.

Life Abraham Genoels was born on 25 May 1640 in Antwerp as the son of the starch maker Peter Genoels and Cornelia Melis. He studied from age 11 to 15 drawing under Jacques Backereel and later perspective under Nicolaes Fierlants in Antwerp. He decided to leave Antwerp as soon as he had finished his studies.

In his compilation of artist biographies called the Schouwburg, the early Dutch biographer Arnold Houbraken devoted a lengthy entry of 10 pages to Genoels. Houbraken described Genoels' foreign travels. In 1659 Genoels travelled with Georg Remees to Amsterdam in order to go to Paris as war prevented them from travelling south over land. While waiting for a boat to Paris, he made a tour of all the kunstkabinetten, or art cabinets. The court painter (Premier peintre du roi) Charles Le Brun had at the time been put in charge of the Gobelins Manufactory, the royal tapestry works newly created in 1663. Le Brun had hired the Flemish battle painter Adam Frans van der Meulen to design tapestries depicting the French king's military campaigns. Adam Frans van der Meulen attracted a number of Flemish artists, including Genoels and Adriaen Frans Boudewijns, to assist him in the design of these tapestries. In 1669–70 Genoels was sent to the southern Netherlands with Boudewijns and Jan van Huchtenburg to draw three views of the chateau of Mariemont to serve as tapestry designs for the Gobelins. The accounts of the Gobelins show that the three artists also received payments for their work on designs for a series of tapestries depicting the 'Months of the Year'. Adriaen Frans Boudewijns engraved numerous works by Genoels.

The engraver Gérard Audran taught him engraving while they were both working for Le Brun. Genoels sent Houbraken a copy of his "Bentbrief" which was signed by the witnesses to his membership ceremony.

Genoels collaborated in Rome together with the Dutch painter Caspar van Wittel and may even have been his teacher.

Return trip In 1682 he undertook his return homewards to Antwerp. He rolled his paintings up and placed them inside clay models of antiquities and shipped these ahead. Then along with the engraver Laviron of Antwerp, and two French engravers Cavalier and Monier, he left on 25 April 1682 and travelled over Siena, Florence, Pisa, Livorno, Genoa, Nice, to Marseille, and then by mule to Avignon, and then up the Rhône to Lyons, and then up the Saône to Villefranche-sur-Saône. From there by horse over the route de Tarare over the mountains to Roanne on the Loire, and from there by boat to Orléans, and from there to Paris, where he stayed to await his shipment and see old friends. This may be the reason why so few of his major works have survived. The surviving paintings are classically structured landscapes with mythological scenes that are classicizing in the style of Nicolas Poussin.

His landscape drawings and etchings are still highly regarded. The well-structured compositions often depict Italianate architecture and small, sketchy figures set in a rich landscape. The drawings show determination and fluidity.